16th century, originally in medicine, "pertaining to or derived from experience or experiments"
from Latin empiricus "a physician guided by experience"
from Greek empeirikos "experienced"
Compare empiric
A pure, unadulterated word
first-hand, direct, observed, practical, actual, factual, experiential
Empiricism is reliance on direct experience and observation rather than on theory. In its essence (see empiric), a lovely idea however, in this form, it is still an ism, which is a system or a doctrine. Isms add additional ideas around the essence, thus erecting a construct. Over time, that construct becomes a separate entitity, independent of the essence that birthed it.
~☉~ | lucid definition; added layer of lucidity, or aethereal context |
⚜ | classic definition |
☣ | artificium definition; usually words which have undergone a warped evolution, or a complete perversion of the original sense |